"A church bell ringing in a valley is symbolic of community," Pijanowski told us, and went on to remind the group that we all have memories of sound that are just as powerful as what we recall through our mind's eye. Because of the near universal experience of sound, the acoustic discipline attracts not only ecologists but musicians, artists, technologists, and those in other fields.

To tap into a world of potential auditory citizen scientists, Pijanowski and his colleagues at Purdue University developed a program that invites people to record sounds then upload them to a Global Soundscapes website. Just before upload, users answer a few quick questions, one of which is, importantly, "How did it make you feel?" The Soundscape Recorder app (Google play or iTunes) is meant to make participation easy, as long as your technology is up to date.

My "smart" tech is behind the times, so on my first World Listening Day I'll just carry a simple digital recorder, picking a few moments throughout the day to take sonic snapshots for sharing another way.

Of course, you need nothing but ears to take part in World Listening Day. Here are a few things-to-do choices offered by the project promoting the global event:

A soundwalk or a listening party with people who make, listen, and discuss field recordings

A performance event that explores your soundscape and how we can listen to our soundscape, or sonic environment

A private / solitary way, by listening attentively to your soundscape

An educational event that relates to acoustic ecology, field recordings, or a similar topic